Family Problem(s)
by ApolloSenpaii
Summary: When an enemy famiglia decided to threaten Vongola, they chose the wrong target to start with - the Hibari clan. Obviously, they failed. However, their action led to more discoveries. Who knew that the guardians are closer to what they really are?
1. Chapter 1 (11-10 23:11:04)

Most of the times, Sawada Tsunayoshi wakes up late. Heck, he might even consider sleeping 'til noon unless Reborn or his mom wakes him up.

However, he woke up earlier than usual, his hyper intuition acting up - meaning something big is about to happen.

He glanced at his alarm clock near his bed and saw '04:05 AM' in bright red LED lights.

 _'It's still early yet my hyper intuition is already flaring up like crazy'_ , Tsuna thought as he rubbed the sleepiness off of his system.

"You'll have to be aware all of the times, Tsuna, even in your sleep. Remember, assassins tend to attack the most when their targets are most vulnerable" Reborn jumped from his makeshift hammock in Tsuna's room, Leon followed after him.

"HIIIEEE! You mean assassins are nearby?! What are you doing, Reborn?! Defend me!" Tsuna shrieked as he ducked his head under his pillow, as if that could help him.

"Don't order me around, Dame-Tsuna. Besides, if you even use that large head of yours properly, you'll notice that there are no assassins nearby" Reborn whipped (Leon transformed into a whip) Tsuna's pathetic form and Tsuna yelped.

"Ouch! Reborn! Forget the assassins! I swear to whoever is up there, you'll be the end of me!" Tsuna rubbed his leg, where whip-Leon hit him.

"Now that you're _fully_ awake, let's finish that homework that you pathetically told me that you've already finished" Reborn jumped on Tsuna's side, and kicked him off the bed.

"You sadist baby!" Tsuna shouted before he begrudgingly proceeded to the task Reborn assigned him.

Besides, the only thing he can do against Reborn is to shout at him in retaliation unless you have a death wish.

\- X -

Tsuna, once again, woke up around 7:15 AM. Apparently, he fell asleep soon after he finished his homework. He debated whether to dress up then have breakfast so he can be early for once; or to go back to sleep and wait until hell break loose - correction, wait until Reborn decided to wake him up. He shivered as he remembered the tortu - _waking_ methods Reborn used at him before.

He stretched his stiff joints while walking slowly downstairs. He can already smell omelettes and toasts.

When he reached the dining area, he was welcomed by his mom, Bianchi, Fuuta, I-pin, Lambo, and of course, Reborn. All eyes fell on him in disbelief.

"Ara! Tsu-kun! You're up early. Are you feeling sick?" Nana ran up to his side as she checked his temeprature with her hands.

"No, mom! I'm fine. Really!" Tsuna exclaimed.

"Who are you and what have you done to Tsuna?!" Lambo accused as he searched his afro, most likely for weapons, but what he found was a grape ball. "Ooh! Sweet! Lambo did not know you're in there!" Lambo kissed the grape ball before tossing it into his mouth.

"Lambo no sweets!" I-pin scolded him before she slapped the back of Lambo's head.

"Gyupaa!" Lambo cried and the grape ball went flying from his mouth into Reborn's tea.

"Annoying brat" Reborn muttered before he kicked Lambo out of the room.

Tsuna sighed. These events have been frequent to him as soon as Reborn, and the others, arrived at their household.

"Three members of the Hibari household has been found dead this early morning"

Tsuna's ears perked up to what he heard from the television. He glanced at the other members inside the room and noticed that their attention were also fixated on the TV. Everyone, except Nana who is busy preparing Tsuna's bento.

"According to the head of the Hibari Household, Hibari Kaede, the event took place around 4:08 AM when one of their maids heard arguments ringing from their backyard. The Hibari Household is currently looking for possible causes of their deaths. On the other hand, the Nanimori Shopping District..." Tsuna met Reborn's eyes and he knew they were thinking about the same thing.

Something _big_ did happen a while ago.

\- X -

Tsuna met Hayato and Takeshi at the Sawada Household's front gate.

"Good morning, Tsuna!"

"Good morning, Tenth!"

Hayato and Takeshi greeted him, the former trying to outdo the latter's cheeriness, which is a difficult task to anyone.

"Have you heard the news?" Tsuna asked as they walked together to school, Hayato and Takeshi flanking his sides.

"I had my morning jog this morning and I never really bothered to watch the news. Haha!" Takeshi grinned.

"Ah! Forgive me, Tenth! As your right-hand man, I should be the one to know about these kind of stuff!" Hayato stopped in front of Tsuna and did a _dogeza_.

"Ah! Gokudera-kun! Stand up! No need to apologize!" Tsuna told him immediately while Takeshi laughed.

"Anyway, what's in the news, Tsuna?" Takeshi as soon as his laughter died out.

"Three members of Hibari's household was killed early this morning" Tsuna glanced around as if the news is supposed to be a secret.

"You mean someone went past their defense and managed to kill three? Damn, they're good" Hayato scowled and inched closer to Tsuna. As trio turned around a corner, they saw Hibari Kyoya leaning against a lamp post, Hibird resting atop of his head.

"There you are, herbivores, omnivore. We have matters to discuss"

"What do you mean?" Hayato asked, his scowl still adorning his face.

"Is this about what happened early this morning?" Tsuna asked silently, his voice slightly trembling.

Kyoya nods before he tossed something towarda Tsuna. The object almost flew into nowhere if Takeshi hadn't caught it.

"I think I saw this before" Takeshi frowned, his hand absent-mindedly flying to his torso where Kaoru pierced him before. He handed the object, which was a photo, to Tsuna.

Tsuna took the photo and examined it. Like what Takeshi said, the photo was indeed familiar. A Vongola insignia was crossed out. However, the difference was the Shimon's insignia was printed in a piece of paper while this insignia was written on a wall using blood.

"The Shimon Famiglia is still a trusted ally of ours, right, Tenth?" Hayato asked.

"Of course! Enma won't let this happen, again!" Tsuna immediately answered.

"Their main target was the Vongola. We're still looking after who were the perpetrators. We'll update you about this matter since the Vongola is involved" Kyoya informed.

"But why me?! Shouldn't you inform the Ninth?!" Tsuna cried.

"You're the closest, possible target since you're the heir. We still don't know their motives. The only thing we knew is that they are targeting Vongola. To clarify, we'll also update the Ninth about this matter" Kyoya turned but before he could leave, Hayato asked him a question.

"Why are getting concerned about Vongola?"

"The incident happened in Nanimori and as its peacekeepers, we have to make sure all parties conderned are well informed. Besides, information is more valuable than any other things aside from power" Kyoya stalked off to the direction of their school, leaving the trio behind.

"Ah, there he goes. So, we should be going. If he arrives first, then we'll be _'bitten to death_ , right?" Takeshi imitated Kyoya's catchphrase, which he did so well that Tsuna thought Kyoya was here.

Knowing that Takeshi is right, Tsuna immediately bolted off towards their school with Takeshi and Hayato right behind him, even bypassing the walking Hibari Kyoya.


	2. Chapter 2

Tsuna barely focused on his classes more than usual. The weight of the news Kyoya informed them earlier wearing his mind.

Tsuna sighed. Ever since Reborn arrived at their household, his life went a full 360. He didn't know if Reborn's arrival was a gift or a curse though.

Yes, his life had been in danger since they've met. However, he was still grateful that because of Reborn, he met his friends.

Speaking of friends, he glanced at his friends, who also happened to be his classmates.

Hayato had his usual _'focused'_ setup; he wore his eyeglasses, his hair tied, and one hand furiously writing notes on his notebook while his eyes is focused on the board. Tsuna wished he had Hayato's enthusiasm during classes.

Takeshi, on the other hand, was busy snoring his whatever-he-feels away. He even tried to fake his _attentivenes_ by displaying an open book, which hapened to their book in History, during their Algebra class. Tsuna don't know how Takeshi gets away with this but he also wish he had this priveledge as well.

Chrome Dokuro, much like Hayato, was focused on the writings on the board, her hand also writing notes on her notebook, her lips drawb into a tight line, her posture stiff. Tsuna sighed. If only Chrome would open up more to them.

Their class was abruptly disturbed when the door flew open. Reborn, in his Rebo-sensei persona, called their attention.

"Excuse me, Nara-sensei but I have to excuse Dokuro Chrome, Gokudera Hayato, Sawada Tsunayoshi, and Yamamoto Takeshi, please?" Reborn politely asked. If only Reborn could ask Tsuna to do his tasks in the same way.

"May I ask why?" Nara-sensei asked.

"Let's say, they have some family problem" Reborn narrowed his eyes slightly.

Nara-sensei nodded and asked for those who were mentioned to follow Reborn. Tsuna saw Chrome and Hayato stand up but he noticed Takeshi was still sleeping. He nudged him awake.

"Finally! Lunch!" Takeshi yawned and stretched his arms above his head. The class snickered.

"No, Yamamoto. Reborn, I mean, Rebo-sensei is asking for our presence" Tsuna said. Takeshi glanced at Rebo-sensei and nodded.

The four followed Reborn out of the room.

\- X -

Apparently, their destination was the Disciplinary Committee room. Tsuna concluded that Kyoya and his clan have some update for them regarding the murders and its connection to Vongola.

As the five entered the room, he noticed the presence of Sasagawa Ryohei, Hibari Kyoya and Kusakabe Tetsuya (of course). As they sat on their seats, Kusakabe started their meeting.

"Is everyone aware about the murders this morning?" Kusakabe asked. Everyone nodded.

"The three aforementioned victims were all part of the Hibari clan's guards. They were all in duty together with seven more guards. The seven said that they were all grouped together when one of the three victims started to attack them, followed suit by the other two. The only was they defended themselves was to knock them unconscious. However, that seemed to be a problem as once they were knocked out, they soon recover as if nothing happened. One of the seven decided to call Hibari Kaede to inform him of their situation. When Kaede-sama told them to wait for reinforecements - "

"Pathetic herbivores" Kyoya commented.

" - all victims decided to cut their neck and use their blood to draw the Vongola crest and crossed it as well" Kusakabe opened a folder and continued his explanation.

"Due to their report, the medical team decided to conduct an autopsy. They soon found out the cause of their mysterious behavior" Kusakabe paused, waiting for the information to sink in.

"So, what did they found out?" Hayato asked. Tsuna looked at the rest of his present guardians. He saw confused face on Ryohei, a slightly concerned face on Chrome, a stoic face on Kyoya, and patient look on Takeshi.

"I was getting to that point, Gokudera-san. The medical team found a mysterious drug in their bloodstream. We've sent a sample of this drug to one of the ex-Arcobalenos, Verde" Kusakabe paused once more. He gave a dreary look to Kyoya before resumed.

"To make sure this incident won't happen again, Kaede-sama decided to drug test every member of the household, including Kyoya and I. The results aren't still available as off the moment but Verde said it would be available by the time school ends" Kusakabe closed his folder before stepping back, allowing Kyoya to head the meeting once more.

"Thank you for that valuable information, Kusakabe, Hibari. Knowing Verde, he'll most likely have the result about the drug around the same time your drug test result is out" Reborn tipped his fedora.

"Hn"

Well, I EXTREMELY don't understand a thing" Ryohei exclaimed. Hayato scowled.

"It was very easy to understand, you turf head! There weren't even any scientific explanations given _yet_. All we knew is that the drug is related to their behavior"

"Ah! I EXTREMELY get it now! You could have said it earlier, octopus head!" Ryohei exclaimed while Takeshi laughed and Chrome giggled.

"So, is that all? Why couldn't you just told us about this when the results were available?" Tsuna demanded, ignoring the rest of his guardians.

"I have a theory" Kyoya replied. All eyes turned to him. "Few weeks after these strong babies had their lifted their curse, I decided to test our men for their ability to harness the power of the Dying Will Flames. Among the ten guards on duty that night, there were 6 of them are capable of using flames. Two of them have Storm flames, one had Rain flames, two have Sun Flames and one had Lightning Flames. Three out of had six candidates were the victims and based on our data, these three were the ones harnessing Storm and Lightning flames" Kyoya glanced briefly at Hayato.

"You mean that this drug attacks flame users?" Hayato asked.

"Based on my observation, yes. However, I still need the drug results to confirm my theory"

"If the drug targets flame users, why weren't the Sun and Rain flame users affected?" Tsuna wondered.

"Maybe it's because of the flames' characteristics which are Activation and Tranquilty" Reborn theorized. Kyoya nodded.

"So does that mean we're safe?" Takeshi pointed at him and Ryohei.

"We're still undergoing some tests about the drugs effect on each type of Flame. So far, we had four, we still need someone with Cloud, Mist, and Sky Flames as test subjects" Kyoya stated.

Before Tsuna could volunteer, Reborn interrupted him.

"You can't volunteer, Tsuna. Just like Hibari and Chrome, you are a valuable asset to the Vongola. Let's just wait for Verde's test result. I'm sure he has away to test the drugs effectiveness on Cloud, Mist, and Sky Flame users"

"That's all. Now, everyone leave. You're crowding" Hibari brandished his tonfas, and everyone immediately ran out of the room, except for Chrome and Takeshi, who doesn't seem to be fazed by the blunt weapon.

\- X -

Tsuna's least anticipated moment arrived; school finally ends. Tsuna usually anticipated this moment but not today.

When their group regrouped at the rooftop, they were joined by Verde himself.

"The most anticipated test result of the year has finally been concluded. I've recreated the drug and tried it on a few test subjects, mainly box weapons. From what the Hibari clan's report said, I sampled at least 50 box weapons per type of flame, except the Sky. I only had 5 samples for the Sky flame. I also tried it on 50 Flameless box weapons. Based on the test I've conducted, all box weapons that harnessed a type of flame were affected by the drug" Verde paused.

"Were the effects of the drug similar to what Hibari Kaede stated on his report?" Reborn asked and Verde nodded.

"All subjects attacked the flameless box weapons"

The door to the rooftop flew open and Kusakabe strolled to their group.

"The drug test results are out, Hibari-san, Reborn-san. Would you like for me to read the results or am I interrupting something?" Kusakabe politely asked.

"No. Proceed" Reborn responded.

"Based on the result, every member of the Hibari household tested were negative from the mysterious drug except all 6 flame users present that night" Kusakabe informed. Reborn's eyes darted at Kusakabe.

"All 6? Hm. Hibari's theory might have correct. This mysterious drug do target flame users" Reborn's eyes gleamed.

"But there were 10 of them present that night, right, Hibari-san?" Tsuna carefully asked. Hibari nodded.

"Is anyone aware about the data you gathered about the members of your household's compatibility to harness flames?" Reborn asked.

"Only my father, Kusakabe, and I knew about these results and I'm sure no one would leak these out" Kyoya glared at Reborn, obviously asking him to argue.

"From the looks of it, the enemy do have information regarding these data" Reborn said suspiciously.

"Hey, Tenth. Remember how the Kosca's from the future tracked us?" Hayato wondered.

"You're right! Maybe our enemies have the same technology like the Mosca from the future!" Tsuna exclaimed.

"Explain" Verde demanded.

"The Moscas from the future were able to hunt down based on our rings. Lal Mirch used the so-called Mammon Chains to hide our presence. According to Lal Mirch, the Moscas track rings that can emit Dying Will Flames through radar" Hayato explained.

"However, no rings were present on the victims' bodies" Kusakabe emphasized.

"But what if instead of rings, they somehow could detect the Dying Will Flame itself? Much like heat sensors" Tsuna suggested.

"If that's the case, then we're in grave danger. Verde, is there a way for us to hide our flame signature, much like the civilians?" Reborn inquired. Verde paused, obviously trying to come up with an answer when his face suddenly lit up.

"You might find this crazy, but I think the answer is simple" Verde smirked.

"You're already crazy so everything you said, I consider it crazy" Reborn shrugged.

"All you have to do is to lull your flame signature. In other words, you'll have to make yourselves flameless"


End file.
